


Where Are You From?

by rakketyrivertam



Series: Operation: (Boy)Friends The Slag Out Of You [2]
Category: Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Backstory, Cuddling & Snuggling, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Exposition, Fluff, In the end notes, Little partner as the big spoon, M/M, Size Difference, in the fic, mentioned genocide, non-graphic genocide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-29
Updated: 2020-01-29
Packaged: 2021-02-26 22:41:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,081
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22463422
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rakketyrivertam/pseuds/rakketyrivertam
Summary: Hound and Skyfire get to know more about each other.
Relationships: Hound/Skyfire (Transformers)
Series: Operation: (Boy)Friends The Slag Out Of You [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1616251
Comments: 16
Kudos: 23





	Where Are You From?

**Author's Note:**

> It would be really ironic if this series that begins with a work titled "20 Questions" ended up being 21 works long with the rest of them all having questions as titles. *knock on wood*
> 
> Vosian naming conventions, the Mangani people, and the Mithric people are all my own inventions.
> 
> The Mithric people are indigenous mecha permanently settled around the Mithril Sea. According to the map I use, this is next to Simfur, home of the High Priests of Primus, who are endorsed by the Senate. Their genocide is mentioned in the fic, but details are absent. See end notes for the full story.
> 
> The Mangani people are indigenous mecha nomadic to the Manganese Mountains. While the Mithric considered themselves all one, giant clan, the Mangani divided up into Houses, and each House had a specific territory. The name of each House was a description of the territory.
> 
> In this fic, there are thirteen Manganese Mountains, each named after one of the Thirteen Primes. I do not include Optimus as the Thirteenth Prime in my fics. Out of the thirteen mountains, only Solus is an active volcano. A large cave inside the mountain that is filled with lava is referred to as Solus' Forge. In the Cybertronian languages, there is a suffix to "Solus" that denotes they are talking about the mountain, not the Prime, since Solus Prime's actual forge is in a different location.
> 
> **Things to Know**  
\- joor is a Cybertronian time measurement equivalent to approximately one hour  
\- I have used bastardized Armenian as a placeholder for Manganese, the Cybertronian language spoken by the Mangani

"So," Hound said, sitting next to Skyfire in the commissary. "I'm starting Operation: Friends the Slag Out of You. I know you went to Nova Cronum studying Xenobiology. Were you from one of the surrounding cities?"

Skyfire smiled at him. "Vos, actually. Born and raised by two upper middle class creators who loved me very much. I'm afraid my story isn't very interesting up until a few months ago. What about you?"

"I'm Mangani," Hound said proudly. "I was also raised by two very loving creators. Relatively, we were very well off."

Skyfire perched his head on his hand, blinking curiously. "I'm not familiar with that city."

Hound laughed. "It's not a city. We lived in the Manganese Mountains. We camped mostly around the skirts of Onyx and hunted in the foothills. I did climb Solus Peak with the rest of my peers to bring back a diamond from the Forge when we came of age, and that was beautiful. It was the farthest I'd ever traveled. Despite our nomadic lifestyle, we had a fairly small territory."

Skyfire frowned. "I wasn't aware there were nomadic tribes in the Manganese Mountains."

"Houses," Hound corrected. "I am Hound of House Oni'z Harvyin Gedy. Or Onyx Southern River in English. And, trust me, we much preferred it that way after the Sonic Canyon Massacre. It may have been a long time for city mechs, but for the Voxillum and Mangani, it was only a few generations ago."

Skyfire winced and nodded. "I'm assuming that's what history books call the Battle of the Mithril Sea? Or the Mithric Uprising? I do not blame your people there. An entire culture... lost."

Hound sighed. "Forty thousand mecha killed between their home and their path to Triaxus for asylum, nine thousand of them sparklings, just for peacefully protecting their land and sacred charge."

Skyfire winced again. "It's such a large number to comprehend."

He and Hound sat in awkward, solemn silence for a long moment.

"Did you have any siblings?" Skyfire asked.

Hound smiled and shook his head. "No, my parents raised and trained cyberwolves. Between them and me, it was enough. Even though the rest of the House would and did happily look after any young ones, there's still some things a creator has to be there for."

"Is that how you got your name? Playing with cyberwolves?"

Hound snorted. "No, though it still would've been accurate. I was named for my small size and my ability to make friends, as well as my tracking skills. In direct translation, my name is closer to Puppy than Hound, simply because I never changed it when I got older, and I don't want to. It's been part of me this long and I like it."

Skyfire smiled. "Ah, I see."

Hound chuckled to himself. "And what about you? Where does Skyfire come from?"

Skyfire shrugged. "I was named for both my grandsires - Jetfire and Skychaser. My younger sister was named for our grandcarriers - Cloudjumper and Stormwind. Vosi are almost always named after family members, though there are a couple ways to do it. When Stormjumper bonded, her mate's family named children after each creator's grandcreators. So her twins are named Jetfire, after his sire's sire's sire, and Jetstorm, after his carrier's carrier's carrier. Any more will be named after the sire's sire, carrier's carrier, and then sire and carrier." He paused. "The twins will be adults now, possibly with mates of their own. I've missed so much...."

Hound frowned in thought. "A pair of flyer twins named Jetfire and Jetstorm? I feel like I've met them before."

Skyfire shook his head. "I hope not. I'd rather they not have any part of this war, but if they did, I know grandsire would have pledged loyalty for the whole family to the Winglord over the Prime. In order to get out of that, they'd have to be excommunicated."

"Has that happened to you?" Hound asked.

Skyfire smiled tightly. "Not yet, but it's only a matter of time before Starscream tells both grandsire and the Winglord."

"You don't know?" Hound asked.

Skyfire tilted his head.

Hound bit his lip. "Starscream is the Winglord."

Skyfire blinked in shock, then stood. "Excuse me," he said as he just about fled the room.

* * *

Hound waited a joor for Skyfire to come back. He checked his lab and the small flight deck Hoist and Grapple had built, and then he made his way to Skyfire's quarters.

His friend was laying curled up on his side in the berth, emotional resonance field simply miserable.

"I'm sorry," Hound said, sitting on the edge of the berth. "I brought you a cube since you didn't finish yours."

Skyfire sat up and took the cube, wrapping his arms around his knees. "Thank you."

"Do you want me to leave you alone?"

Skyfire shook his head.

Hound sighed. "I really am sorry."

"It's alright," Skyfire said, smiling sadly. "I know I messed up with my reaction to the Massacre. It can't all be 20 Questions and sleepy, drunken kissing."

"I wish it could," Hound offered with a shrug.

Skyfire chuckled. "If wishes were petrorabbits, we'd need a new Cybertron. Do they still say that?"

"I hope so," Hound said. "Humans have so many variants of that saying. If wishes were horses, if wishes were dimes, if wishes were fishes - which isn't even the correct plural of the word, though I guess it rhymes, which creates a situational exception to grammar, but only in some cases - but I only know the petrorabbits one for our people."

Skyfire hummed thoughtfully. "We could always steal the humans'. If wishes were zap-ponies, if wishes were shanix, if wishes were... I don't know, sharkticons?"

The two collapsed into giggles, until Skyfire trailed off, staring into his energon.

"Would cuddles help?" Hound offered.

Skyfire looked up and cracked a smile. "It seems like a hypothesis worth experimentation."

"I can totally be the big spoon," Hound swore. "Roll over."

Skyfire chuckled and set the energon aside, rolling back onto his side as Hound shuffled behind him and wrapped an arm around his middle - or more accurately, a hand around his thoracic struts.

"Are my wings in the way?" Skyfire asked.

"No," Hound answered honestly, stroking that hand up and down. "Are they comfortable like this?"

Skyfire sighed contentedly and drowsily. "Very."

"Recharge," Hound said, smiling. "I'm here."

"Mm," Skyfire hummed, already drifting off, certain he felt a kiss on his shoulder but too drained to be sure.

**Author's Note:**

> **The Mithric Uprising**   
_excerpt from A Standardized History of Cybertron_
> 
> The Mithric people settled on the shores of the Mithril Sea. When offered formal recognition of their borders by the Senate, they refused. Shortly after, it was discovered that tunnels in Simfur led down to the Heart of Cybertron itself. Construction of the High Temple began. Outraged by the presence of Primus worshippers near their lands, the Mithric attacked with an army of thousands. Mercy was offered and refused, and so the Mithric army was destroyed and construction on the High Temple resumed.
> 
> * * *
> 
> **The Sonic Canyon Massacre**   
_transcription of Mangani oral history_
> 
> Before Unicron was banished by the Thirteen Primes, he struck a near-fatal wound to his brother - a gouge in the surface that reached his very spark. This wound was so tainted with Unicron's presence, it refused to heal. To protect himself, Primus sparked the Mithric. Tender from the blow that wounded him, he instructed them to settle on the shores of the Mithril Sea, far enough to not cause him pain, and close enough to respond to any threat.
> 
> Time passed, and Primus, weary from battle and from creating, fell asleep. Primus' noble defenders thrived, but we're forgotten about.
> 
> Time passed, and a citymech came to them, saying he was a healer and had a vision he could start to repair Primus' wounds. The Mithric chief allowed him to see the gouge, with the conditions that he not go unescorted, that he not stay longer than half a joor, and that he not go into the wound itself. The citymech swore to abide by the rules, but instead he jumped into the wound and made it all the way to Primus' spark and back. The Mithric were angry, but could do nothing once the citymech revealed himself to be a Senate investigator, not without starting a war they could not win.
> 
> Time passed, and a new citymech came to the Mithric. He claimed the Senate wanted to officially recognize Mithric borders and showed a map with the proposed boundary line. The boundary line excluded the wound they had been charged to protect, and so they refused. Twice more, a citymech came with a map. Each time, it excluded the wound, so each time, the Mithric refused.
> 
> Time passed, and one morning the Mithric woke to see labor-class mechs swarming the wound. Outraged, the chief took his two guards and demanded to know what was happening. The laborers explained that the Priests of Primus had ordered a temple built here.
> 
> But this was the Mithric's duty, not the Priests', so they took action. They had been charged to leave the wound alone, to not hurt it, but they had also been charged to protect it, so the chief made a choice. The following cycle, every mech able to do so went up to the wound and sat on the ground so the laborers could not build. For a decacycle, they fasted and prayed and sat. Some Mangani and some Voxillum joined them, staying far from the wound that was not theirs to protect, but guarding their siblings and those that were precious to them.
> 
> On the eleventh cycle, they heard a noise. Thinking it was a Senate representative come to talk, the chief stood in welcome. Instead, fire rained from the sky as the Senate bombed that sacred site, killing every mech present. Then, they turned to the sea.
> 
> The remaining Mithric fled, leaving every possession behind. They fled down into the Sonic Canyons, hoping the rocks would protect them and shelter them as they made their way to their ally, Triaxus. It was not so. They were all of them killed, and the only mechs who saw it and lived were the Mangani and Voxillum who ran for reinforcements against the Senate's barbarism.
> 
> That is why there are no more Mithric, and that is why we live in hiding.


End file.
